Keurig Platinum Single Cup Brewer Review

Quite simply, the Keurig Platinum Single Cup brewer is the last coffee brewer you’re ever going to need. In my household, we’re coffee and tea drinkers…iced tea, hot tea, hot chocolate, lattes, hot apple cider….we drink it all. We just don’t drink the same thing at the same time.

Every morning, I make coffee. I have performed this ritual for years. And I’ve used just about every kind of coffee brewer from percolators, automatic drip, espresso machines, special coffee brewers with attached grinders…all kinds. I also threw out half the pot too because we didn’t drink it all. Which is a waste. Then there are holidays and special dinners where our guests would like coffee with their dessert but they want decaf. Personally…I’ve never understood decaf. What’s the point? But people like it and when I have guests for special events, they ask for it so I buy it. So we’re left with a dilemma: drink the decaf, make a separate pot of whatever kind of coffee I want, or dirty another pot making hot cocoa.

Then there is my husband who swears I make tea and call it coffee. This is a man who likes his deep, bold roast. If that wasn’t bad enough, Starbucks comes out with their yearly “Christmas Blend” which is fabulous stuff. As much as a pound of that coffee costs and as good as it is, the LAST think I want to do is throw any of it out because I didn’t drink it all. Trying to measure out half pots is a pain in the neck.

Enter Keurig Single Cup Coffee Brewer: now everyone can have whatever they want and I don’t have to dirty up my entire kitchen doing it. Keurig brewers utilize ‘K-Cup” system which is a single preparation of coffee/tea/cocoa/cider/beverage in a plastic cup that fits into the machine, hit the button and wait for a few seconds for the machine to brew and pour it into the cup. With Keurig you have no coffee pot to wash, no paper filters. When you’re done, pop out the K Cup and toss it away.

Keurig brewer with K Cup inserted and ready to brew.

I can have tea if I want it and make something separate for my husband.

Keurig Platinum Single cup brewing away ....ahhh.. coffee...

Now that cold weather is here, I’m all about my hot apple cider. Keurig’s got a K-Cup for that as well. Now, no more worrying about expiration dates of apple cider in the fridge or that tasteless watery instant stuff in envelopes. The Keurig even makes iced tea and has a special setting for that although I wish that there were more unsweetened varieties as I am not a sweet tea fan.

Just a small sample of the K Cup beverages available. Everything from tea, hot cocoa, decaf, apple cider and pumpkin latte. But this doesn't begin to scratch the surface

I LOVE this machine. You can choose any size of cup you want to brew from small (5.25 oz) to travel mug size (11.25 oz). Unlike Tassimo coffee pods, K Cups come in all varieties and brews of coffee, tea and hot chocolate. And you can get K Cups anywhere which is a bonus. Even WalMart sells K Cups although your best bets are Costco for price and Bed, Bath and Beyond for variety. Can’t find what you want, head online and order there.

After inserting the K Cup of choice, this screen allows you to select the amount of beverage you wish to brew.

Also unlike Tassimo, you can use your favorite coffee grounds if there isn’t a K Cup variety you like. Keurig has a “My K Cup” reusable filter for brewing your favorite blends.

This is the reusable "My K Cup" filter for those times when you want to use your favorite blends that might not come in K Cups. Removable, easy to use, easy to clean.

This type of brewer is also excellent for offices as well. It’s an old complaint/cliche about making a pot of coffee, walking away to let it brew only to come back and find most of it gone except for some putz who left one inch of coffee in the bottom of the pot without making any more. With a one cup coffee brewer, you get your choice without having to wait for an entire pot to brew.

I really have no cons about this product other than I wish there were more unsweetened varieties of tea. We waste less coffee, I have less mess in my kitchen, and everyone gets what they want. Seriously, it’s the best coffee brewer I’ve ever bought. It’s a bit pricey at $169.00 (Costco price for the Keurig Platinum Bundle that includes 80 K Cups) but it’s well worth the price and comes with none of the fuss and mess of other coffee brewers.

Arrgh! These machines make me nuts. First, they are like inkjet printers- the profit is in the consumables- these cost more per cup than restaurant coffee. Second, every K-cup you use is another piece of plastic in the landfill – I know there is the reusable thing, but I cN get the same result with filter cone and a #2 melitta filter for a fraction of the price, and get better coffee. Third- a 5.25 oz cup or an 11oz cup from the same dose of coffee? One is going to be too weak (and maybe both…). Coffee should be brewed with 2 tablespoons coffee to 6 oz 190-200 deg F water. I’ve looked at K-cups, and I don’t see room for 2 tablespoons of anything along with the filter system they show in the cut-aways. I also doubt the water is hot enough (there are only a few drip coffee makers that do get hot enough.).
If you can’t drink a whole pot, don’t brew a whole pot. Get a mug-top filtercone holder. Put the #2 cone into it. Put it on top of your mug. Pour boiling water into the cone and fill a Pyrex measuring cup at the the same time. Let the water drain into the mug. This washes the paper taste out of the filter and warms the mug. Dump the mug, put the cone back. Put the appropriate amount of coffee in the cone (I use just over 1/4 cup for a 16oz mug). Dribble a little water from the Pyrex cup (which should now be just right temp-wise). Let the coffee “bloom” – foam up a bit as the grains release oils and a little trapped CO2 from the roasting process. After a few seconds, start pouring the water. Ideally it should take about 4 minutes to drain through, in order to extract maximum flavor. Too little coffee in the filter makes thin, bitter coffee. After all to good flavor is extracted, the hot water starts pulling the bitter oils out of the grounds. Using more coffee means you have enough brewed before you get to the bitter part.

I absolutely love the Keurig system for both convenience of clean up and ability to switch flavors on the second cup. I purchased mine 2 years ago, and the machine is still going strong. The cost is roughly between 40 and 50 cents per cup. We use 20 percent off coupons for Bed Bath & Beyond shopping there for the variety of k-cup flavors on hand. In fact I bought the Keurig machine with a 20 percent off coupon. And then we buy the 80 K-cup packages at Sam’s of Caribou coffee. I agree there are less expensive ways to make coffee. I rarely would use the lowest size unless I want a really dark brew. I bought the machine with the largest brew possible – as it makes the K-cup go further – since the cost is in the consumables anyway. The keurig system simple works well for our needs. Keurig gave us outstanding customer service too. When a small rubber seal came off – then sent a replacement at no charge.

I’ve had a Keurig brewer for several years now, and only two complaints:

1) the K-cups are terribly wasteful. It’s difficult to strike a balance between convenience and eco-mindedness, and certainly this is better than buying a cup of coffee in a disposable cup from your favorite coffee place every morning, but still it produces a lot of waste overall. The filter baskets are a nice idea, but believe me, they’re more of a pacifier than a solution. You will buy them, you will discover that filling them, brewing with them, and cleaning them is a pain, and you’ll go right back to those wasteful K-cups. (To be fair, you can get a good cup of coffee out of the filter basket, you just have to have a proper coffee grinder so that you can get a consistent grind at the same size as what’s in the normal K-cups)

2) It is absolutely no good for making coffee for a large group (say, more than four people). Whereas a standard coffee maker would allow you to brew a single large pot and then pour cups as needed, this requires constant attention: putting in a K-cup, brewing a cup, opening the chamber, tossing the scalding hot used K-cup in the trash, waiting a few seconds for the brewer to be ready again, putting in a new K-cup, repeat. Fine if you’re serving a line of people, no good if you’re trying to sit down with friends for a cup of coffee together.

And to answer the questions about the strength of the coffee: yes, brewing a larger cup of coffee with one K-cup will absolutely result in weaker coffee than brewing a smaller cup. As a result, I never, ever, EVER brew the largest size, and only brew the middle size if I’m using one of the particularly bold coffee varieties. 99.9% of the coffee brewed in my Keurig brewer is the small cups, because I like my coffee strong. My wife goes through two K-cups every morning– a small cup of each — to fill her travel mug. It’s still cheaper — and faster — than going out for coffee, but the brewer certainly isn’t going to pay for itself any time soon unless you’re a serious coffee fiend.

Keith… you’re a little angry over something as simple as coffee. As I (and you) pointed out, you can measure out your own coffee blends in the reusable My K Cup.

You’re missing a number of points that I made in my review and one is if you want coffee and someone else in the house wants hot tea and yet someone else in the house wants decaf coffee…what do you do?

“you’re missing a number of points that I made in my review and one is if you want coffee and someone else in the house wants hot tea and yet someone else in the house wants decaf coffee…what do you do?” —–

Response —

A tea caddy and 2 small Melitta coffee makers. Coffee is better, cheaper, and you do not have to either throw out K-cups or refill them.

Also, you can make all 3 types at the same time instead of having to make and serve your coffee one cup at a time. If you do it this way, by the time you serve the last cup, the first cup is cold.

If you want to worry about throwing out Melitta filters, you can even get gold foil filters that last forever.

I’m not angry about coffee, I’m angry at the way our society has decided that convenience trumps saving the planet. K-cups will not be recycled- they have food waste in them, and recyclers don’t want to deal with taking them apart and washing them. On top of that they make mediocre to ok coffee at best. I LOVE coffee, to the point that I have roasted my own beans. I don’t buy coffee at Starbucks- its overpriced and over-roasted. If you truly love coffee, don’t waste money on a system that forces you to buy from a limited number of suppliers at inflated prices. Get a melitta rig, a Chemex or even an aeropress, buy small amounts of GOOD coffee and grind just before you brew.

Keith….or you can use the My K Cup and brew your own blends. I’m with you on the environment. I like the Keurig not because it’s convenient but because it actually saves money, at least in this household. I don’t look to companies to do my recycling for me. Recycling is up to me.

BEst purchase we made this year, auto on every morning, insert coffee tab and select cup and brew! Of course we would not have bought if we didn’t have a $100 off and 20% off in addition. Very expensive but very good quality product, just like the saying goes..you get what you pay for!

Have to get in line behind Elizabeth on this one. Nine times out of ten, we brew our coffee in our Technoform brewer. I think that it is the best way to make coffee at home. The Keurig still get used a few times a week for the very reasons that Elizabeth points out in her very thorough review. We also have the smaller version that we take with us when we travel (no more hotel coffee).

I bought one of these for the office and it’s been great. Previously people would happily buy the ground coffee, but nobody wanted to actually make it. Now everyone pays for their own and there isn’t any struggle over who actually brews it.

BlackNimbus and SoloTwo:
I feel sorry that I have to share planet with people thinking like you. Seriously. If you had your own planet, I wouldn’t mind a second that you screw it up, but now me and my children are affected by your choices too.

Or how about getting the Keurig as a second coffeemaker if you have a bit of money to burn and a 20% coupon for Bed Bath and Beyond? Wouldn’t mind having hot apple cider, cocoa or any special concoction occasionally, which my DeLonghi can’t brew, although I agree that using the Keurig several times a day is really a waste of resources. But for run-of-the-mill coffee for several people the regular coffeemaker will more than suffice.

Oh for the Love of Pete! Are you environmentalist hippies serious? You badger a reviewer about the environmental aspect of the K Cup but not the MANUFACTURER?

I reviewed the machine and it’s uses…I did not develop or market it. Your “You’re destroying the environment and I have to live here with you” comments are wholly inappropriate responses to the review. They are better directed at the manufacturer.

But still I have to ask… what’s keeping you from putting the used K Cup in your recycling bin???

Go ahead and put the used cup in the recycling bin. The recycler who picks up the stuff in your bin will pick it out and throw it in the trash, for the reasons I mentioned above. Andy Simmons’ comment explains why the My K-cup is a waste of money. Saving the planet for our children is not something someone else can do. It is everyones responsibility. Also, 5 years from now, when the heater burns out on the machine itself, you are going to buy a new one, because no one repairs small appliances anymore. The old one will end up in the landfill. Take a look at “The Story of Stuff” (google it). Everything we buy has hidden costs both at the beginning and end of it’s use cycle. Those costs are financial, personal, and environmental.

@Elizabeth: recycling the used K-cups is a nice thought, but there are complications. First of all, as Keith mentions, they contain food waste — the used coffee grounds — but beyond that, they aren’t just plastic. There is a paper filter that is attached about a quarter of an inch above the bottom of the K-cup (to prevent grounds from spilling into your coffee), and the top of the K-cup is made of foil. As I’m sure you’re aware, recyclables must be separated by type of material, so in order to prep the K-cup for recycling, one would have to 1) peel off the foil lid, 2) wash out the used grounds, and 3) remove the paper filter. Ultimately, this is actually more work than just using the My K-cup filter basket.

Secondly, even if you’re willing to do all of this work, recycling rules vary from place to place. For example, where I live, the only plastic we can recycle is plastic bottles. If it doesn’t have a neck and a place for a cap, we can’t recycle it. The K-cups certainly don’t qualify.

To be fair, the amount of plastic in the K-cups is small, and it would probably take a few dozen to equal the amount of plastic in even a water bottle, but still, waste is waste.

The good news is that Green Mountain Coffee Roasters — one of the major producers of K-cups and the owner of a large share of Keurig Corp. — is reportedly unsatisfied with the waste produced by K-cups, and has been investigating alternative materials which would make the entirety of the K-cup unit biodegradable. I’ll believe it when I see it, but I’m hopeful.

you both make very good arguments for recycling (oh and yes we fix small appliances in this house all of the time. Maybe that’s unheard of in your neck of the woods but we actually fix appliances rather than toss them out and buy new all over again) but AGAIN…why is this MY problem? I am the REVIEWER of this product not the MANUFACTURER. Your anger, outrage, time and environmental protests are better aimed at the manufacturer and your local legislators who can change their products to use more environmentally sound materials and write definitive and more cohesive laws regarding recycling in your areas.

Casting aspersions in my direction regarding the motor of this particular machine when you have no first, best idea what my recycling motivations might be are, at best, narrow-minded, ad hominem and juvenile. They’re also inappropriate in this forum.

Grow up, calm down and direct your anger and outrage where it will do the most good: towards product manufacturers and your local lawmakers.

The Keurig is an excellent beverage brewer and it solves several problems regarding waste in this house. I have written, both in my review and responses to your comments, that it is not entirely necessary to use Keurig K Cups for your beverage purposes. The machine comes with a reusable My K Cup filter for using your own coffee and tea blends thereby reducing your vehement arguments about the K Cup to moot points. There is a choice with this brewer and you choose to ignore the My K Cup option in exchange for a ridiculous diatribe about the plastic K Cups. You also completely ignore other brewers such as Tassimo that do not even offer that option.

As for the motors of the machines, I’m convinced that Keurig makes a superior product and am not worried about having to replace it but if I do, you can rest assured that I will contact Keurig about repairing it rather than relegating it to a landfill.

@Elizabeth: er, for what it’s worth, I have no anger in this matter, and especially none towards you (how could I? As stated, I own and have been using a Keurig brewer for many years now), and I certainly have no complaints regarding your review. I’m not sure how you came to be under the impression that things were otherwise. I think you might be taking the comments — which, to me, appear to be leveled directly at the product itself — a bit too personally.

The main problem with these single-cup coffee makers is each cup is about as much as a small cup from McDonald’s or Starbucks.

I can buy a pound of coffee for around $8 (on sale, $10+ otherwise) that will provide many more than 8 cups of coffee, and the only waste produced is spent coffee grounds if I use my press pot. That’s organic waste; earthworms love it.

Elizabeth- I’m not angry at you. I angry at a society that places convenience above sustainability. Your rave review will incite more people to go buy these things, some of whom will love them, some of whom will hate them. Either way, it’s more junk in the landfill. I’m not perfect. I try to ride my bike to work, but where I live it can be 90degress at 6 in the morning in the summer, and 30 degrees at the same time in winter, so sometimes my wife drops me off. I ditched the gas mower for a reel mower. I grow as much of my own produce as I can, but I still shop at Trader Joes. My wife and I have made a commitment to buy as little “stuff” as possible, and when we do get things, we avoid buying what Alton Brown calls “unitaskers” – which is what the Keurig is.

Keith – Very admiral goals, but they are not shared by everyone. You need to be a little more tolerant with those that don’t live up to your expectations. I understand that you are angry at the way people abuse the planet (in any number of ways), but learn to pick your fights. Lashing out at all of us over a review of a coffee maker implies that you are on the attack 24-hrs a day. Based on the fact that you frequent the Gadgeteer website, one assumes that you are either looking for a fight (as many of the products reviewed here could be construed to be frivolous and bad for the environment) or that you secretly covet some of these products.

People who lash out on a topic 24/7 (and i am not saying that you do) get tuned out very quickly. As well meaning as you are, you ultimately hurt your cause. While my comments are no more appropriate for this forum as are yours, you need to understand that not everyone appreciates your environmental rant here. While I respect your view of reality, I would ask that you respect the views of other.

1) Go to Target and BUY a resuable K-Cup filter
2) Go to Dunkin Donuts and buy their coffee
Fill the K-Cup with freshly ground coffee and press the swtich and wait 2 minutes.
What’s all the fuss about as the remedy is so easy.

I have a cheaper version of the Keurig single-cup brewer, and I have nothing but good things to say about it. I will most likely upgrade to the pro at some point, because mine only makes the small cups, and that’s not enough for me.

To solve the dilema of what to do when you have a party of 4 or 5 people who all do want the same type of coffee and you don’t want to be stuck at the Keurig acting as your house barista for 30 minutes making each cup individually, I simply kept my old drip brewer for those occaisions. I can make a 10-cup pot pretty quickly with that one, or if it’s just me making myself a cup in the morning or whatever, I use the Keurig.

I vote saving money over saving the earth. Sorry, but as a Christian, I firmly believe God is in control of our planet, and we not even capable of destroying it. Our planet will last much longer than we are going to need it to. Hey some might laugh at that position, but I laugh at the position of guys like Keith. I don’t litter, and I try not to be wasteful if I can help it. But saving the earth is not something I’ll ever lose sleep over. Saving the souls of mankind is much more important. Because the earth will pass away at some point, the bible says so, but not before the Almighty is ready for that to happen. In that event, cutting the foil and filter off of your K-cups and placing them in the recycle bin isn’t going to stop it from happening.

Hey we’ve already gone from drinking coffee to saving the planet, why not drag religion into this to make it interesting? haha

I’m gonna sit back with a fresh brewed cup of Caribou blend from my Keurig and see how this thread unfolds. And I’m gonna throw the K-cup in the trash can. I don’t even own a recycle bin. lol

[/quote=Martin]BlackNimbus and SoloTwo:
I feel sorry that I have to share planet with people thinking like you. Seriously. If you had your own planet, I wouldn’t mind a second that you screw it up, but now me and my children are affected by your choices too.[/quote]

Martin, there are entire nations of people who don’t give a flip about saving the planet, and would argue vehemently that it is not even in need of saving. And you think you recycling your K-cups is going to make a difference in the world? It isn’t! After thousands of years of mankind advancing technologically and consuming the earth’s resources and creating waste, are the trees any less green than they were a thousand years ago? Is the sky any less blue? Are the oceans any less full of water? Are the animals any less abundant? No on all counts. Mankind will come and go, and the earth will hardly even be aware he ever existed.

I’ve been using a Keurig Platinum Brewer for over a year now. I bought it at Costco, which included the My K-Cup (haven’t tried it) and 72 sample K-Cups. It makes a pretty good cup of coffee. I buy the extra bold varieties that have 20% more ground coffee in the K-Cup. At $0.40 to $0.50 a cup it is more expensive than buying ground or whole bean coffee. Finding K-Cups has meant special trips to Khol’s or Walmart. Recently some local supermarkets have started stocking K-Cups in 12 count boxes. I keep my Starbucks drip coffee maker around for when I decide to give myself an economic stimulus and go back to drip.

The environmentalist hippies on this thread are absolutely making me laugh out loud. I shudder to truly think that the reviewers on this post are seriously so egotistical to believe that their footprint on this planet is so important and so vast, that they believe we are all committing the greatest sins by throwing away a K-Cup. For crying out loud, the procurement of coffee, shipment of it, manufacture of the materials to produce the cup, delivery of the cup to market, the trip to the store to buy the cups and then to drive home has a much more monumental impact on the planet than a little cup of unused coffee in the trash can. Ever look in the Waste Management trash bins behind any of your precious Starbucks stores? The next time you’re there, hold a K-Cup against the huge piles of non-recyclable (or potentially recyclable) trash wrapped in those plastic garbage bags and then come with an truly unselfish, objective review about the impact of Keurigs on the environment. I’ll bet my brewer that none of you tree-huggers have even been to a landfill in the past five years to witness how most major metropolitan areas have turned their plants into greener, more sustainable plants, all in an effort to calm your collective nerves about carbon footprints and global warming only for them to realize their eventual folly, in that you will never, ever be satisfied until we’re all naked and harvesting our dinners from community organic farms. Maybe you should all switch to decaf and calm the hell down.

As to the brewer, I have had the Platinum for over a year now, and a mini in my office. I LOVE THEM BOTH. The coffee and tea varieties are out of this world, the hot chocolate is great, and I just fell in love with the apple cider from Green Mountain Coffee. I don’t ever want to use another coffeemaker ever again, per all the same reasons in this review.

I love this machine but its not hot enough. The unit says its at its hottest temp 192 F but I inserted a cooking thermometer and it barely hits 150. I have to put it into the microwave to make it hot enough.

@Francis, After reading your comment I decided to test my Platinum B77 model from Costco to see where it is at temperature wise. I used two thermometers to insure the results were not skewed by a bad thermometer. The first two runs where without K-Cups. The first run into a cold cup resulted in 176 degree Fahrenheit water. The second run into a preheated cup resulted in 180 degrees. One final brew using a coffee K-Cup resulted in 179 degrees. My machine is getting 26 to 30 degrees hotter than yours. It would be interesting to see what temps. others are finding with their machines.

What was the original question ?? :>
Thankfully, Mother Earth is a little more resilient than what the wack-jobs in this string would have you believe…
Thank you Al Gore !!
Rush Limbaugh for President….
(I NOW await your response) :>

Hi,
I don’t have a Keurig but when visiting friends they have made me coffee with the machine. One sample was Italian, one was a bold blend, the third a Kona blend, on 3 different machines. Wow.

I mean, wow I had a hard time finishing the coffee (had to be polite as a guest). I found the medium sized cups to be thin in color, bitter in taste, and undrinkable. I added milk and sugar to dull the bitterness. It reminded me of restaurant coffee.

Is this typical of the coffee the Keurig makes? My reference is coffee in a Bodum, Starbucks, and an Italian espreso pot diluted a bit with hot water in the “Americano” fashion.

With the Keurig, it doesn’t seem the hot water is in contact with the grounds for very long, no more than 20-30 seconds? Seems too fast to brew properly. I’ll stick to my $18 espresso pot. Two strong cups per day costs me $0.20/day in coffee.